What is a local business? And how can local businesses improve their digital presence to capture more clicks, conversions, and foot traffic during the customer journey?
A local business is any company that provides goods or services to a community or region. There are two types of local businesses: service area businesses and brick-and-mortar locations.
With a service area business, customers don't visit the business. Instead, service area teams visit customers at their homes or places of business. Think about locksmiths, doulas, plumbers, or landscapers.
Brick-and-mortar businesses are storefronts, restaurants, branches, hotels, clinics, and the like. Customers or patients come to a brick-and-mortar to buy goods or receive services. A brick-and-mortar may be a locally-owned small business. It could also be a corporate brand location, including franchises, in a specific community.
Every local business benefits from improving its digital presence
While some local businesses may not have eCommerce channels, they still must have a strong digital presence. It's the key to increasing digital visibility and local foot traffic.
Why? Despite the convenience of online shopping, customers journey from the digital world to physical locations:
Nearly half of all Google searches (46%) have local intent.
76% of customers look at your local business listings before visiting your location.
When searching for a local business on a mobile device, 88% of customers will call or visit the location within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, 72% of customers shop in brick-and-mortar locations every week. And their customer journey often begins with a search and ends at a local storefront.
Misconceptions about local businesses and local SEO marketing
Whether you're one small local business or one of 1000 locations around the world, your customer's journey extends across many diverse touchpoints. Customers now search for local businesses everywhere from social media to AI platforms.
It's not enough to claim a Google Business Profile, build a presence in online business directories, and intermittently manage reviews.
94% of customers use websites other than the Big Four (Google, Facebook, Microsoft Bing, and Apple Safari) for local search.
99% of customers read online reviews as part of their search, and 98% say they are an essential resource.
71% say customer reviews are the top trust-building factor for brands.
45% of customers are likely to use and trust AI tools (like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity).
88% of customers look on social media for information about a brand or local business.
How local businesses can increase foot traffic with a stronger digital presence
Yext has helped thousands of local businesses improve their digital visibility and drive foot traffic through competitive local SEO and structured data strategies. Our proprietary Knowledge Graph technology helps local businesses to centralize and structure their data at scale.
With actionable insights for local business growth, the Yext platform doesn't just manage listings information. Yext provides analytics that help local businesses understand customer behaviors, track and optimize their digital footprint, and continuously refine their strategies to meet new customer needs and technological innovation.